


To Kiss a Dolphin

by coagulationary



Category: Free!
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, idiots being stupid, just pure fluff, set during their elementary school years as lil' baby swimmers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 20:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2123415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coagulationary/pseuds/coagulationary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For some reason, Rin was drawn to Haru. He did not know why he was drawn to Haru- whether it was the grace in his stroke or his quiet demeanor that Rin was so intrigued by- but he was enticed by the boy, completely drawn to him. He was scared at first, not knowing how to react in a situation in which he was so intrigued by someone. Haru was different, it was a fact he had been aware of since the first day they met.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Kiss a Dolphin

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Slay me with a bottle of mustard ~~I don’t even really ship RinHaru~~ but this headcanon was way too cute to pass up I had to write it.

For some reason, Rin was drawn to Haru. He did not know why he was drawn to Haru- whether it was the grace in his stroke or his quiet demeanor that Rin was so intrigued by- but he was enticed by the boy, completely drawn to him. He was scared at first, not knowing how to react in a situation in which he was so intrigued by someone. Haru was different, it was a fact he had been aware of since the first day they met.

Yet something was different on that particular day, something Rin did not understand, and something he had not felt previously when talking to his friend. His stomach felt tight watching him swim, he was jittery, his heart was beating fast in his chest and made it difficult to breathe. He didn’t know what this feeling was called, and he wasn’t particularly sure if he liked it or not. But what he knew was that Nanase Haruka was something special, somebody important, and was somebody he wanted to uncover every secret and gut like a fish until he knew every single part of him.

It wasn’t until weeks after his feelings started, began to quicken at a steady pace, that Rin developed a sudden urge to take into consideration these feelings- he wanted to take action, to discover them. And he would do in a way he did not expect and in a way that was very sudden for both of them.

It was during a get-together with the team, something Coach Sasabe had planned as team bonding and a way for the kids to be outside to play in the snow. Rin watched from afar as Makoto and Haru built a snow statue the shape of a dolphin, Haru unreadable as always with his giggling companion by his side. A great snowball rested in his hand, ready to be thrown at its target, and with a sly grin Rin approached the two as they placed the final touch ups on the dolphin.

“You guys need some help?” he asked, tossing the snowball from one hand to the other behind his back. Makoto beamed, those droopy eyes of his widening in approval as he nodded and invited Rin over to help smooth out the dolphin’s back, and Rin glided over next to Haru and slipped the snowball in his pocket where it was out of sight, yet still intact.

The boy smirked at Haru with a toothy grin. “Isn’t this fun, Nanase?” he beamed.

“I guess,” Haru replied, refusing to look him in the eye as he smoothed out a small patch of snow on the dolphin’s back. He was as curt as always, not rude, but cold- like the snow. It dragged Rin in further.

“You should give the dolphin a kiss.”

“No.”

Makoto giggled. “Look, Haru-chan,” he said, promptly placing a brief kiss to the snow. “I gave the dolphin a kiss, so you can do it, too.”

Haru sighed a finally gave in, very quickly touching his lips to the snow and giving Makoto a look a disapproval as Makoto giggled and touched his cold lips. The two were close, very close, sharing a bond much deeper than Rin’s own bond with Haru that he found himself longing for, almost jealous of Makoto’s closeness- they were on first name basis, after all, and probably had been for a long time. Rin wondered if he could ever be on the same level of closeness as Makoto was with Haru.

After Makoto has finished kissing the dolphin again, it was Rin’s turn to kiss it, giving the sculpture an over-exaggerated kiss with the smack of his lips and a satisfied sigh. What followed were repeated dolphin kisses between Makoto and Rin, the two going back and forth kissing the snow as Haru continued to smooth out the places where they had left kisses, unfazed. Nagisa soon came to join them, eagerly joining in the game of kissing the dolphin snow sculpture before Coach Sasabe laughed a hearty laughed and snapped a picture of the four having finally finished the dolphin sculpture. All the while, Rin had been smirking deviously at Haru, mentally mapping out an attack plan for when he would launch his snowball at the back of Haru’s head.

His plan came into motion as the Iwatobi boys fanned out to go home, and for once, Haru did not go with Makoto.

“It’s time to go home, Haru-chan” he said, tugging on the other boy’s parka.

Rin gave him a pouted lip. “But I want to go home with Nanase today.”

Makoto wasn’t one to argue, especially when it came to making Haru happy, so he turned to a quiet Haru and asked him what he wanted to do. Always the wishy-washy pacifist.

“I don’t care,” Haru said flatly, looking toward the ground.

Makoto turned back to Rin. “Mom’s waiting for me, so Haru-chan can walk home with you today. Is that alright, Haru-chan?” Haru did not reply. “Well, I better get going. I’ll see you tomorrow Haru-chan, Matsuoka”. And with that, he was gone, and Rin and Haru were left alone.

They stood there in silence for a few moments before Haru finally started walking, Rin waddling to catch up with him. They walked in silence for several moments, Rin discretely removing the snowball from his pocket and playing with it behind his back before he asked a question.

“Say, Nanase. Why didn’t you want to kiss the dolphin?” he asked.

“Because it’s weird.”

“I figured you of all people would want to do it. Aren’t dolphins your favorite animal?”

“Yes.”

“So why not?” Rin whined.

“Because I didn’t want to.”

There was no way he would be able to get a solid answer out of him, Rin knew that. Haru was never one to outwardly show his emotions, and although it made him a challenge to read properly, this was something Rin had caught onto early on.

Rin thought for a moment, back to how Makoto had made him kiss the dolphin, and he changed the subject.

“Why do you let Tachibana call you by your first name?” It was something he had been curious about for quite a while now.

“I don’t let him, he just does it.”

“So why can’t I call you by your first name?”

“Because we aren’t friends.”

Rin stopped as Haru walked forward, looking toward the ground. Some churned inside of him, something like anger, jealously, something foreign and something that hadn’t been there before. It was a different sort of jealously than before, and angry jealousy, and now he was starting to question what he even felt in the first place. He wanted to punch Haru in the face for denying their friendship, but at the same time, he wanted to hold him. And he didn’t know why.

Haru stopped to look at him. “Are you coming or wh—”

And there is was: the snowball. Rin hurled it at Haru, hitting him square in the face as it splattered in chunks across his face, and seeing the surprised expression on his face- the most expression fine had seen from him all day, in fact- was enough to send Rin into a bubbling fit of laughter.

“Man, Nanase, you should have seen your face!” he choked, holding onto his stomach to support his laugher. Tears formed at the corner of his eyes, about to spill over before something hard and wet smashed against his face and his vision was blurred with white. Haru had just thrown a snowball at him, and had another one ready and loaded in his hand.

For a moment, Rin was angry, about to run straight after him, but instead a smirk played his lips as he took a mound of snow in his hands and began to mold it into shape. “Alright, now you’re going to get it, Nanase!”

He wound up the ball, sending it flying into the air as it missed Haru by a portion as he dodged, throwing another ball of his own at the latter. They began to separate further, planning their next attack as snowballs were tossed back in forth with the velocity only two sixth graders could pull, and as Rin prepared himself, another ball smacked against his head. He turned, his lips turning upright in a smile, and screeching a battle cry he flung himself at Haru, sending the two boys flying into the snow. They struggled against each other, trying to remove the grip of the other, rolling through the snow back and forth before Rin finally pinned Haru under him.

“Gotcha! Gotta move faster, Nanase.”

Haru tried to struggle from under his grip, but Rin refused to release him. He was too transfixed on his movements, something pooling within him that was different from any of the past emotions of confusion or jealously of angry jealously- this time, it was something like desire.

His heartbeat began to quicken, palpitations pumping steadfast, and his cold cheeks began to grow warm like steam. Haru had finally stopped struggling from under him, turning to fact him now as he glowered.

“What? Is there something on my face?”

Rin shifted his glance to his face, his cheeks reddened as well from the cold, and for a moment a thought popped into Rin’s head that he had previously been holding back. It was a thought that made no sense, but at the same time made so much sense, and something clicked in him that this was what he wanted, this was something he was prompted to do.

Before he could even stop himself, he was kissing Haru. It was brief and unrehearsed, a quick peck to the lips before he pulled away and saw that Haru’s expression had completely changed, now staring wide-eyed at the boy above him with his mouth hanging half way open. It took Rin a moment to process what he had done- he just kissed his friend, was the one who initiated the kiss, and he didn’t regret it. His heart was flying out of his chest at this point, his cheeks on fire, and before he knew it something swelled inside of him that brought him to his feet in a mad cackle and a toothy grin.

“Your face was even better that time around, Nanase! Oh man, I bet you were so surprised,” he laughed, running about the snow as fast as his little legs could take him. He was ecstatic, like he was floating, having never felt so free in his life. It was as if it was something he had always wanted to do, something he knew he had to do, and he was so, so happy.

Rin later came to the conclusion that he liked kissing dolphins a lot more than he had previously thought.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is so rushed and stupid I'm sorry I was listening to the Snow Falling on Cedars soundtrack the entire time I wrote this.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Just call me Tsukiyama Shuu because I am absolute trash.~~


End file.
